1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates in general to lawn refuse bags for purging air and enhanced content compaction.
2. Description of the Related Art
Lawn & refuse bags are used for disposing landscape debris. These refuse bags can hold up to 30 gallons or more in volume. The refuse bags are usually constructed of a biodegradable material such as brown paper, and used to collect leaves, grass clippings, and other refuse.
When leaves, grass clippings, sticks, weeds, or other contents are added to the lawn bag, such debris along with air occupy the volume within the bag. If the contents are loose or less tightly packed, then air will occupy a greater volume in contrast to heavier and more tightly packed debris. Loose contents such as dry leaves allow more air to reside in the bag than heavier and denser contents such as grass clippings.
In order to pack more debris of loose content into a refuse bag, air must be purged from the bag. To do so, the loose content must be compacted. This typically includes removing air from the refuse bag such as compaction of the contents of the bag. Compacting the contents of the refuse bag to make additional available volume for disposing more debris within the refuse bag requires the user to push down the contents to force the air out. This is accomplished by a couple methods.
Typically, a user simply pushes down directly on the contents of the open bag. This results in the user reaching into the bag repeated times to compact the contents within the refuse bag. Dust, dirt, and allergens are emitted directly at the users head, shoulders and torso. Such debris usually gets deposited on the hands, arms, and face. This method of compaction requires the user to constantly reposition the user's hands so as to compact different surface areas of debris within the refuse bag since the surface area of the debris within the bag is much larger than the surface area of the user's hands.
The user may also attempt to partially close or fold shut the mouth of the bag then push down to force the air out of the mouth (top opening) of the bag. Air attempts to be purged from the folded portion mouth of the bag. However, the more the mouth of the refuse bag is folded over, the more air tight the refuse bag becomes and the more difficult it is to purge the air from the refuse bag. In addition, dust, dirt, and allergens are forced out the mouth of the bag. Such dust, dirt, and allergens are directed toward the user and may easily be breathed in or settled on the user's clothing, arms, hands, and face.
Moreover, lawnmowers having refuse bagging systems for collecting grass clipping are well known in the art. Typical lawnmowers include push and self-propelled walking lawnmowers having rear-discharge systems. Such rear discharge systems include rear-mounted grass catching bags known as catch bags. Side-discharge mowers include side discharge systems with side mounted bags and are less popular because the side protruding catch bag may cause interference with trees and other objects lying adjacent to the lawn mower. Furthermore, the rear-discharge catch bag can be conveniently attached or removed from the mower without the added components such as clips, bands, or other hardware.
Insert liners are known for use with grass catch bags. The insert liners are inserted into the grass catch bag to collect grass and other lawn clippings for easy removal and disposal. The need for emptying the grass clippings collected in the catch bag to another container is eliminated. The inserts are generally made of porous or perforated material, including various forms of disposable paper and plastic. The insert liners also vary in the distinct ways they are constructed and attached to the lawnmower.
The prior insert liners used with grass catching bags are not well adaptable for rear-discharge mowers with rear-mounted grass catching bags. Many of the inserts are designed to fasten to or fit around a discharge chute protruding from the side or rear of the mower. Fastening brackets, elastic bands, and other attaching hardware are used to fasten the insert liner to the discharge chute either prior to attaching the catch bag or as an additional step in mounting the catch bag. Some of the inserts, such as the one introduced by Collins (U.S. Pat. No. 6,151,875), have an enlarged and an extended opening that is intended to protrude from the grass catching bag to be placed around the external discharge chute. The rear-type grass catching bag opening is typically wide enough to enclose the back of a mower housing and the output of the discharge chute, and as a therefore, the insert liner as described by Collins would not be adaptable to present day lawn mowers. Collins further describes a non-uniform “tapered” design that increases from the bottom to the top of the insert liner, in addition to a mouth opening that extends outwardly flared. The fact that the insert liner is non-uniform in shape makes it more difficult to manufacture. One embodiment of the Collins insert also includes extra folds at all corners of the bag to allow the bag to expand for fitting properly in various size grass catching bags. These folds are an extra step in the manufacturing process that adds complexity and cost. The tapered shape of the bag from top to bottom can also be undesirable. Although this shape allows the insert to be easily removed from the grass catching bag, it also makes it difficult for the bag to stand upright on its own since it will be top-heavy. This may be unfavorable to some users who wish to stand the bags up for various reasons, including stacking or ease of lifting and carrying the bag.